United Arab Shipping Company’s (UASC) newest vessel, the 18,800 teu Barzan, has made its maiden call at the Port of Felixstowe, the Port of Britain.
The biggest container ship in the UASC fleet arrived at the UK’s largest container port from Port Kelang in Malaysia. The Barzan is deployed on UASC’s AEC1 service between Asia and North Europe.
“Our investment in new infrastructure, equipment, systems and people has ensured that we are the clear port-of-choice for the latest generation of mega vessels employed on the Asian trade,” said Clemence Cheng, Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Felixstowe and Managing Director of HPH Europe division .
“Our ability to handle these huge vessels will be further enhanced when the Berth 9 extension is completed at the end of the year. Beyond that we will continue to enhance facilities and improve still further levels of productivity.”
The Barzan, named the world’s most environmentally friendly ultra large container vessel, is the first of a series of six 18,800 teu vessels being acquired by UASC for the Asia – Europe trade.
Barzan is also a part of the industry’s first LNG-ready fleet and will set new standards for fuel and energy efficiency, due to optimized vessel design and an array of efficiency technologies. Preliminary calculations indicate an EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) value that is close to 50% below the 2025 limit set by IMO.The new class of vessel has an overall length of 400 metres, breadth of 58.68 metres, depth of 30.6 metres and a draught of 16 metres.
As well as Felixstowe, the AEC1 service calls at Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Port Kelang, Rotterdam, and Hamburg.